1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optical recording media. More particularly, the present invention relates to optical recording media on which various information which is visually recognizable by the naked eye (hereinafter referred to as visual information) can be displayed by any of manufacturers of optical recording media themselves, manufacturers who record various digital information on optical recording media and sell them as optical recording media having digital information recorded thereon, and end consumers purchasing optical recording media themselves or optical recording media having digital information recorded thereon. The present invention further relates to optical recording media on the surface of which various information as visual information is displayed by the manufacturers of the optical recording media themselves, and on which various visual information can further be displayed (written or printed) by the manufacturers who record digital information or the end consumers.
2. Description of the Background
Optical recording media (optical discs) on which digital information can be written and/or read by laser are widely used as recording media in fields of e.g. audio software, computer software, game software and computer-aided publishing, since they have a large recording capacity as compared with conventional recording media and are random access discs.
The optical recording media are classified into two types i.e. a write once type capable of recording and reproducing digital information and a rewritable type capable of erasing recorded digital information and recording new digital information. Among them, CD-Rs (compact disc-recordable: write once type) and CD-RWs (compact disc-rewritable: rewritable type) which are CD system optical recording media, become used widely in recent years. On these CDs, users can write their own digital information or data, and further, CD-Rs are compatible with read only CDs. Further, DVD-Rs (write once type) and DVD-RWs (rewritable type) which are DVD system optical recording media become used widely in recent years.
It is desired for users of such optical recording media that they can tell at a glance what kind of digital information is recorded on each optical recording medium without reproducing recorded digital information. One method is making the surface on the side opposite to the light incidence side of an optical recording medium printable and displaying visual information thereon.
Particularly, manufacturers which record digital information such as music on optical recording media and sell the optical recording media having digital information recorded thereon, desire optical recording media, the surface of which is printable so that what kind of digital information is recorded on the optical recording media is indicated and the commercial value of the optical recording media to be sold is increased. To meet such a demand, optical recording media wherein the surface of the outermost layer on the side opposite to the light incidence side is formed into a print-receiving layer so that said surface is printable, become commercially available in recent years.
Further, printers dedicated to printing on such optical recording media are also commercially available. Many of these printers are of ink jet type using a water base ink or of thermal transfer type. Using such printers, a sharp full color image can be printed at a relatively low cost.
Here, the manufacturers of optical recording media themselves also desire to print e.g. their trademark on optical recording media to be produced so as to label the optical recording media and to increase their commercial value. However, if printing is conducted on the print-receiving layer with a conventional ink by the manufacturers of the media, it is impossible for manufacturers who record digital information on the media and sell them to further conduct printing on the printed surface, and said manufactures have to conduct printing on portions on which no printing is conducted, and printing has to be conducted very restrictedly.
Under these circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide an optical recording medium which comprises a surface having visual information already displayed, on the side opposite to the light incidence side, wherein a new visual information can be displayed on said surface. Another object of the present invention is to provide an optical recording medium wherein each of a manufacture of the optical recording medium itself and a manufacture who records digital information on the medium and sell it or an end consumer can display a new visual information on the surface opposite to the light incidence surface of the medium. Another object of the present invention is to provide an optical recording medium which comprises a surface having visual information displayed by a manufacturer of the medium itself, on the side opposite to the light incidence side, wherein a new visual information can further be displayed on said surface by printing by a manufacture who records digital information on the medium and sell it.
Now, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments.